Ayurveda Health Newsletter
Issue 28 - June 2007
e-newsletter of Maharishi Ayurveda Products
- Quotation – The Rasayana preparations of Vedic medicine
- Topics – Aromatherapy, Skin care, Massage, Rehydration, Emotional health
- Featured Products – Vedic music - health effects, samples
- Doctor’s Advice – The height of Pitta Season
- Special Offers – Aroma oils, Gandharva Veda CDs
- Recipes – Using Ghee, Egg-free cake
- Q&A – Combining products, understanding Vata-Pitta-Kapha
- Global Good News – Milk, Natural cosmetics, Global health research
- Prize Draw – Last month’s winner
- Maharishi Ayurveda News – New brochure on massage and consultations, Topics in previous newsletters, Are you on our mailing list? New product
Quotation
These Rasayana preparations are described in the classical Vedic texts as 'enriching the nourishment of all the body's tissues, of infusing the field of consciousness, the field of immortality into the Dhatus, into the organ systems, into the Prakritis of the body'. It is this infusion of the qualities of intelligence inherent in the unified field at the basis of the physiology, which is responsible for longevity of the body, which is responsible for prevention of disease.
These texts describe how, by using these Rasayana preparations properly and with the proper instructions, and other Vedic modalities of Maharishi Vedic Medicine, one can prevent or even cure all the major diseases; and one can live, according to these classical descriptions, 100 years, 200 years, 400 years, or even longer.
Dr Robert Keith Wallace, pioneering researcher and President of Maharishi College of Vedic Medicine.
Topics for the Summer
Aromatherapy
In India and China, the tradition of using plants therapeutically has remained unbroken for thousands of years. Vaidyas, Ayurvedic physicians, treated Indian royalty with dried and fresh herbs, floral waters and aromatherapy oil massage.
Maharishi Ayurveda Products offers a range of 22 specially blended Ayurvedic aromatherapy oils to support various aspects of health and well-being. These include oils for women, for life’s pressures, for the mind, digestion, sleep, inhalation, joints and muscles.
Read how therapeutic oils work
Maharishi Ayurveda aromatherapy products
Skin Care
Maintaining youthful, healthy skin requires a holistic approach and Maharishi Ayurveda offers advice on how to keep your skin youthful, supple and moisturized.
Ayurveda and the seven layers of skin
Basic facts about skin creams, massage oils and body lotions
Browse Maharishi Ayurveda skin care products
Skin and Massage
According to Ayurveda, the over-aggravation of Vata that occurs with passing age results in the shrinking of the shrotas—the channels that nurture the skin. As a result, the skin gets less nourishment, overall circulation gets adversely impacted, and the skin starts ageing faster.
Daily self-massage, called abhyanga, is recommended as part of the Ayurvedic daily routine for everyone. It is considered good for overall health, vitality and longevity. When the massage oils are infused with specific blends of herbs and essential oils they can help targeted health goals as well. Thus, it is possible to blend proper herbs and oils together to balance the factors that cause ageing skin.
Learn how to do a daily self-massage, and what oils to use
Rehydrating Skin
One internal water therapy recommended by The Council of Maharishi Ayurveda Physicians is drinking 6-8 glasses of boiled water everyday. Use pure drinking water, and boil it for five minutes. People with Vata type skin should drink the water warm, Kapha skin types can sip it hot, and Pitta skin types should cool it to room temperature before drinking. The water should be boiled fresh each day, and should not be ingested on a completely empty stomach. This therapy helps the water to flush toxins from the body and moisturize the skin from within, keeping it hydrated and lustrous.
Emotional Health
Blissful Joy (MA1402) is excellent nutritional support for emotional balance. Blissful Joy helps balance three subdoshas: Tarpaka Kapha, Prana Vata and Sadhaka Pitta. Tarpaka Kapha governs fluid balance in the brain, healthy brain tissue, and communication between brain cells. When in balance, it contributes to a stable personality. Prana Vata—which governs energy, creativity, perception, growth of consciousness and self-realization--is also nourished by Blissful Joy. Finally, Blissful Joy supports Sadhaka Pitta, which is responsible for balanced emotions, self-confidence, healthy desires, motivation and a feeling of fulfilment.
Blissful Joy (MA1402) also improves metabolism and clears away toxins from the microcirculatory channels (shrotas) that deliver nutrients to the cells. Blocked shrotas deprive the cells of energy and vitality and slow down cell regeneration. When your body has more old cells than new ones, fatigue and depression can result. Blissful Joy improves metabolism and helps revitalize cell growth.
One of the herbs included in Blissful Joy is Arjuna, known to strengthen the heart and emotions. Ashwagandha and Holy Basil assist the body's natural resistance to stressful situations. Ashwagandha is also effective in balancing Prana Vata and improving emotional stability. Finally, Ailanthus excelsa and Arjuna help strengthen the body's natural rejuvenative mechanisms, hastening the replacement of dead or weak cells with fresh, vital ones.
If in addition to fragile emotions you also feel overwhelmed or mentally fatigued, it's recommended that you also take Peace of Mind (MA1401).
Read about the Ayurveda approach for emotional health
Featured Products
Maharishi Gandharva Veda
Maharishi Ayurveda works with a broad range of techniques to restore balance to the individual, including to all the five senses. Massage works through the sense of touch; food, spices and herbs through the sense of taste; aroma oils influence us via the sense of smell; watching the beauty of nature satisfies the sense of sight; and Gandharva Veda music harmonizes the physiology by means of the sense of hearing.
The idea of music therapy is not exclusive to Ayurveda. A variety of studies have shown how significantly music affects the human physiology. It can change pulse rate, circulation, blood pressure, metabolism and respiration rate. For this reason, music has been utilized as treatment in many hospitals to alleviate pain, and decrease the need for pain medication and anaesthesia.
Maharishi Gandharva Veda goes far beyond the relaxation of the physiology - it attunes the mind and body with the cycles of Nature.
The traditional health effects of Gandharva Veda
Our catalogue of Gandharva Veda recordings
Doctor’s Advice
July is the height of Pitta season. The dry, hot weather means you have to pay attention to digestion, skin, diet, hydration and enjoyment.
Dr Donn Brennan’s health guidelines for July
Special Offers
Aroma oils
Maharishi Ayurveda Products offers 22 therapeutic Aroma Oils. Start a collection for different purposes and locations. For example, Peace at Night for bed time, Keen Mind for when you are doing mental work, Pitta blend for keeping cool, Smooth Cycle for women.
Gandharva Veda CDs
Maharishi Gandharva Veda melodies are the eternal frequencies of Nature that attune the mind, body and environment to an orderly state of balance, and dispel negativity. There are melodies suitable for different times of day, and some that can be played at any time of day, such as the lovely, cooling 'Rain Melody' performed on Bansuri (Indian bamboo flute) by Amar Nath.
'Rain Melody' CD Ideal for a hot summer weather. Buy
Our catalogue of recordings and to hear samples
Recipes
A cake recipe
the lightest, easiest egg-free recipe I’ve ever used
Cakes have a celebratory reputation. If you'd like to start baking cakes, or want a proven recipe that
doesn’t need eggs...
Cake Recipe
A Pitta-pacifying diet www.mapi.com
What's the first thing you reach for on a hot summer day-a cold drink? We instinctively know that cool drinks and cool foods help balance Pitta and replenish fluid levels in the body. But if a drink is ice-cold, it will douse your digestive fire and disrupt digestion, so it's best to avoid iced drinks, especially during meals. Stay away also from carbonated drinks because they slow down digestion. Freshly blended fruit juices drunk at room temperature are nutritious, satisfying and delicious. Grapes, sweet pineapple and water melon are some refreshing choices.
To keep Pitta in balance
1. Favour the sweet, bitter and astringent tastes and avoid salty, sour and hot spicy foods. Sweet foods include rice and bread. Milk, butter and ghee are all cooling foods. Fully ripe sweet juicy fruits like melons, cherries, grapes, pears and mangoes, and vegetables such as cucumber, broccoli, zucchini and asparagus are Pitta-pacifying.
2. Minimize yoghurt, sour cream, citrus fruits and spicy foods like cayenne. Avoid vegetables with heating properties such as tomatoes, hot peppers, radishes, onions, garlic and spinach.
3. Cook with cooling spices such as fennel, mint and coriander, and reduce hot spices such as dried ginger and mustard seed.
4. Favour foods that are liquid rather than dry, and cool or lukewarm rather than hot. Lentil soups flavoured with Pitta Churna make a nutritious Pitta-pacifying meal.
5. Drink lots of room temperature or cool water and sip 2-3 cups of Pitta Tea during the day. Pitta Tea contains cooling spices and rose petals, renowned in Ayurveda for cooling down the mind, body and emotions.
Fresh fruit juices and the water from young coconuts are wonderful pick-me-ups on warm sultry days.
Soothing beverages for bed time and lunch time.
Stir some Rose Petal Preserve into milk that has been boiled and cooled.
Rose Petal Lassi makes a refreshing lunchtime beverage. LASSI RECIPES
Pitta pacifying diet and the Ayurvedic approach to weight management
Cooking with ghee
The most highly recommended cooking oil of Ayurveda, ghee is an effective carrier of the lipid-soluble portion of herbs and spices to the various parts of the body. It is flavourful and aromatic, so you can use half as much as ordinary oils.
Spread ghee on corn-on-the-cob, on toast, on baked potato. Use it when you sauté spices, or pour it over cooked rice or pasta. It’s delicious whether you sauté, bake or fry, enjoy the flavour and aroma of ghee.
Maharishi Ayurveda Ghee is made from highest-grade organic creamery butter, and its benefits and advantages are many:
The benefits of ghee
• Contains natural antioxidants, Vitamins A and E,
• Is salt-free and lactose-free
• Is not hydrogenated or oxidized
• Stays fresh for weeks at room temperature
• Contains no trans-fatty acids
• Enhances digestion and absorption
• Balances stomach acid
• Ghee is the natural alternative to the
hydrogenated cooking oils that clog the arteries and promote free
radical damage
Buy Ghee, or other cooking ingredients, in the food section of our Online Shop.
Nutritious Dal recipe with ghee
Questions and Answers
Q: Are there any herbal food supplements specifically designed to help balance the emotions?
A: Yes. Blissful Joy is an excellent nutritional support for emotional balance. Blissful Joy helps balance three subdoshas: Tarpaka Kapha, Prana Vata and Sadhaka Pitta. Read more
Q: When taking Maharishi Ayurveda supplements, can I take more than the dose indicated on the package?
A: The label advice is the standard dosage, and you should stick to that. However, your Ayurveda physician may recommend a different dosage when you attend a Maharishi Ayurveda Health Consultation.
Download a health consultations brochure
Global Good News
This month: Three Maharishi Vedic Health approaches to heart health; Gates Foundation to fund research on global health programmes; world’s largest organic supermarket heads for Britain, organic honey bees and the environment … Read all the news items
Prize Draw
This month’s prize draw winner of a £10 voucher is Joshna Dalal of London. Congratulations Joshna.
Maharishi Ayurveda News
Maharishi Ayurveda Health Centre has just produced a new leaflet on Massage and Consultations. To request a copy please call 01695 51008.
Are you on our mailing list?
We send out a mailing twice a year to recent customers, or to those who request our information pack. If you would like to go on our mailing list and receive our latest Ayurveda information leaflets and catalogue, please call 01695 51015, or to request the information pack online: Subscribe to our mailing list
New product
We have received a trial quantity of Maharishi Ayurveda Rose Petal Conserve, a deliciously satisfying Pitta-pacifying spread you can use on toast, or mixed as a drink, or just for a spoonful of something sweet. It has a cooling quality, just right for summer.
It’s not yet available in our Online Shop, but if you’d like one of the last jars, or want to place an order for some of the next batch, which arrives in two months, please call 01695 51015.
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